Eleventh International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Sea surface temperature is a known environmental driver for seaweeds. However, the inconvenient truth that global warming is already occurring leaves the aquaculture sector vulnerable. Using the lens of ecosystem approach to fisheries management, this study aimed to investigate the sea surface temperature fluctuations in the seaweed area of Davao Gulf, Philippines. Particularly, significant temperature variations were identified and spatially described. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua was the source of data sets which include monthly climatology data from 2002 to 2018 and night sea surface temperatures from 2007 to 2018. The region selected was the particular area of Davao Gulf where 10 known seaweed farms were located. An open source processing software, SeaDAS 7.5.1 was used to process, analyze and visualize the night sea surface temperatures in the area. Results indicate that for the past ten years and using a 20-year monthly climatology data averages, four significantly “hot” occasions occurred in the study sites, namely in August 2010, April 2013, August 2016 and September 2017. The difference from the average ranged from 0.31-0.93 degrees Celsius. Specific seaweed farms with significant sea surface temperature rise until 2017 were found in Bato and Sinawilan in Davao del Sur, Tambo in Davao del Norte and Bongabong and Cadunan in Compostela Valley Province.